4:00 AM - 6:00 AM

Doyle explains to Josh how they're going to hand him over to his grandfather to get the component they need.

"This may sting a little." ("OW! SON OF A BITCH!!!")

They take Jack into temporary custody, but they don't take his cell phone away. That's like leaving him with a loaded gun. Temporary custody indeed.

In case you tuned in late, Chloe explains to Jack that Josh is going to be handed over to his grandfather in exchange for the component they need.

In case you're still confused, Vice President Daniels explains to the Russian President that they're going to make an exchange in order to get the component back.

Lennox doesn't understand how Jack was able to make phone calls while he was under arrest, either.

How much CTU equipment does Buchanan have at his house that they're still cleaning it out three-and-a-half hours after he was fired?

In case you're clinically dead, Karen explains to Bill how they're going to hand Josh over to his grandfather in exchange for the component they need.

Doyle doesn't even look inside the port-a-potty. Yup, that's checking the place out real good.

Of course Phillip Bauer has a tap into CTU's satellite surveillance. I think there's a homeless street mime in Des Moines that has a tap into CTU's satellite surveillance.

Doyle mentions our first "perimeter" of the evening! Drink!

Imagine if Josh had actually picked a fight with his grandfather over the phone even after Doyle told him not to.

Hey, wasn't there a schmuck from division here just last episode that came to relieve Nadia of command and question the entire team? He must have fallen in the hole the Chinese blew in the floor.

Nadia wants to be updated immediately if the tracker signal weakens "even a little." She says this precisely at the moment we see the signal strength on screen change from 98% to 100%. If it drops 2% again, does she want to know?

Bill intercepts Jack Bauer. You can't take an SUV off the road like that!

Chloe's right in the middle of an operation that might avert all-out war between the U.S. and Russia. So of course, she gets up and leaves to go help Milo's brother.

And moments later, Nadia does the same.

Nadia stops to take a phone call, and just like that, Milo's brother is gone. Never to be seen again. So glad we took those moments, then.

Doyle ("Jack Jr.") says "dammit." Take a sip.

Doyle and Josh take off running toward the water. Phillip said walk, dammit!

"The component was a fake. It blew!" Yes, it really blew chunks. Of shrapnel.

Like Behrooz before him, Josh has learned how great CTU's "we'll rescue the boy after the exchange" plans work out.

Daniels says "until you sit in this chair, you don't know anything." And once you do sit in that chair, you really don't know anything.

Doyle is going to be blind in at least one eye thanks to the explosion. So if we see him again next season, it'll be as Pirate Doyle!

Everybody should be really glad it's not part of the drinking game to do a shot every time someone says "the boy."

Phillip shares a very peculiar "I am your father" kind of moment with Jack via split screen.

Chloe keels over from a sudden bout of spontaneous pregnancy! (It seems to happen on TV all the time. But does anyone know of this actually happening in real life?)

Big day for Josh. He got to ride in a helicopter, and now his grandfather wants to take him for a ride on a submarine, too!

Daniels has been itching to bomb someone or something for 12 hours now. Don't think for a moment he's not going to jump at the chance to order an air strike on this oil platform.

Hang on a second. This satellite coverage they've brought back up and used to get Phillip's location on the oil platform... wouldn't this be the same satellite coverage that Phillip demonstrated just half an hour ago that he had a tap on? Shouldn't Phillip be able to see all these scans being taken of his location and know that people are coming for him?

No one notices (or cares?) that Bill and Jack are loading down with assault weapons to head back for "immediate debrief?"

Cheng starts talking with his henchmen in Chinese, and Phillip asks "what is it?" So, he's planning to defect with his grandson to China to live for the rest of his life, and he doesn't understand a word of Chinese?

Is this oil platform really "decommissioned?" Because it seems like every stray bullet is causing an explosion half a mile high.

Phillip gives Josh a bit of the "control your emotions" philosophy he picked up from those Vulcans he made first contact with.

Josh steps up!

Jack knows exactly how Josh feels. I guess he shot his grandfather, too.

Jack turns and walks away from his dying father. What are you willing to believe, if you don't actually see the body?

BOOM! You can blame the rise in gas prices on Phillip Bauer and his evil plot.

Jack drops off the rope to do some body surfing, then washes on shore. Where are Locke and Sayid?

Lennox name checks every major plot development of the season in explaining to Daniels why he should let Karen and Bill off the hook.

He even leaves his blackmail tape on the table on the way out. What are you willing to believe, if you didn't actually see whether he made copies or not?

We know Chloe was having a relationship with Milo before getting back together with Morris. What are you willing to believe without a paternity test?

Next season, Pirate Doyle is teaming up with Chloe's baby.

Cheng looks like he competed in a pie-eating contest.

Well, it's been a rocky season, but it all wraps up with a really strong and emotional extended sequence involving Jack, Heller, and Audrey.

So, that's it for now. Let's sum up season six:

In the plus column, this season revolved around a single plotline and its natural offshoots more than the last two, which both bobbed from plot to plot every few weeks.

But, in the minus column, almost all of said plot felt like a rehash of material we've seen in the five prior seasons. It was almost like 24 had become a parody of itself, piling on the cliches. The good dramatic payoffs were few and far between. And absolutely no payoff on the whole "is Josh Jack's son or maybe Phillip's?" thing. (I guess he's really Graem's son after all.)

So, if I'm ranking all the seasons in order, I think it looks like this:

1) Season Two
2) Season One
3) Season Three
4) Season Five
5) Season Four
6) Season Six

Yes... we've hit an all-time low. Hopefully, the creative minds over at 24 will make good on their recent hints to take the show in a new direction next season. I know I'll be there when "day seven" begins, but I'm not going to be waiting on pins and needles for it.